There are a number of mail processing applications that involve verification of authenticity of incoming documents, in some cases, prior to opening the envelope or other type of mail item bearing the respective document.
For example, there is an increasing trend in the United States for voting-by-mail (VBM), a process whereby ballots are sent to registered voters via the postal authority (e.g., United States Postal Service or “USPS”) and then returned by said voters by post or by dropping them off at designated ballot collection centers. The State of Oregon, for example, presently conducts its elections entirely through the VBM process. Part of the rise in popularity of VBM is attributed to the preponderance of evidence indicating that this method of voting leads to higher turnout than one where people vote in person or have to apply for a postal vote. Another reason for the rise in popularity of VBM is that it can help deter fraud by creating increased layers of checks and balances as well as produce a more visible/recordable paper trail. Reduction of cost and simplification of the election process are also desirable benefits attributed to VBM.
Successful facilitation of the VBM process requires the application of procedures and protocols for processing the influx of election ballots. This includes procedures and protocols for ensuring voter privacy, notification to voters of erroneous but necessary voter information, verification of voter authenticity, proper sortation of received ballots into one or more categories to ensure further processing, etc. One or more verifications are done prior to opening the return envelope. An exemplary scheme for the facilitation of VBM is shown with respect to FIG. 1, which depicts the high-level process with respect to the State of Oregon. Those skilled in the art will recognize, however, that the following discussion is exemplary in nature, and not descriptive of all VBM processes.
The process begins (1) with the voter filling out a registration form, which requires information such as the intended voter's name, address and signature. From off the registration form, the voter's signature is captured via a scan process and stored into a computer for future reference. Once the registration is approved, (2) an election packet is created for the voter, which includes: a ballot, return identification envelope with unique barcode printed thereon (no two voter's share the same barcode), and a secrecy envelope. This packet is sent to the voter via the applicable postal authority (3), and upon receipt, the ballot is filled out and then prepared for return by the voter (4). Preparing the ballot for return includes completing the ballot and sealing it into the secrecy envelope. The sealed secrecy envelope is then placed into the return identification envelope, which itself is signed by the voter as a means of certification, and returned (e.g., by mail) to the appropriate election office (5). Once received by the election office, various verification tasks must be performed.
The box labeled (6) describes the various steps required to be completed for processing of the envelope containing the completed ballot. In general, many of these steps require some form of verification or sortation of the returned ballot, such as verifying that the proper return envelope has been received (e.g., verifying the characteristics of the return envelope), verifying proper signature application onto the return envelope, verifying that the signature matches the voter signature on file, and proper sortation of received return envelopes based upon the various verification results. While this is but a few of the various verification and/or sortation considerations required to prepare the return envelopes for the next phase of processing—ballot tallying, generally these steps are performed manually by one or more volunteers or via combination of manual and automated/computerized tools (e.g., a handheld barcode scanner or imaging tool). While processing of this nature can be effective, visual inspection or matching is prone to human error, often slow, and can be detrimental to the ultimate integrity of the ballot return envelope verification process. Furthermore, offline or external tools used for performing the verification of return envelopes inhibits the rate at which the actual ballots contained within may be processed.
Clearly a need exists for improved automation of one or more of the verification steps, for processing of the in-bound mail items containing the ballots. United States Patent Application Publication No. 20060049252 by Guyett et al. teaches processing incoming mailed ballot packages having a voter ID code and a verification signature on the envelope and a ballot enclosed within the envelope. Prior to receipt of the incoming ballots voter signatures have been electronically stored and associated with voter ID's. Ballot packages are fed and transported on automated machinery. Voter ID's are scanned and cameras are used for capturing images of the verification signatures from the ballot packages. Based on the scanned voter ID's, electronically stored voter signatures are retrieved. Next, the captured verification signatures are compared with the stored voter signatures corresponding to the scanned voter ID's. A validation file is generated that indicates which ballot packages had verification signatures that were successfully matched with stored voter signatures during the comparing step. Finally, the automated equipment sorts ballot packages using the validation file to separate successfully matched and validated ballot packages from unvalidated ballot packages.
However, there is still room for further improvement. The technique disclosed in Publication No. 20060049252, for example, requires at least two passes of each in-bound item of mail purportedly containing a ballot—one pass to capture an image for signature analysis and a second pass to perform the actual sortation based on results of the signature analysis. Also, the signature based verification appears to be the only automated verification performed. The post verification sortation functionality also could be enhanced.
Hence, a need still exists for further improved techniques for performing verifications on in-bound mail items, e.g. for vote-by-mail applications or the like, and/or for attendant enhancements to the sorting of such mail items.